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159
Record editor Alex Manly and his staff.
According to family tradition and other
accounts, Manly escaped from the city well
before the march on the press and perhaps
even before the issuance of the White
Declaration of Independence. Thomas
Clawson, editor of the Messenger who had
sold the printing press to Manly, recalled
that he asked Walker Taylor if he could
approach Manly on the ninth and tell him to
leave town as soon as possible. Manly’s
family recalled that Clawson had given
Manly the codes to pass through Red Shirt
picket lines on the outskirts of the city as
well as twenty- five dollars to assist in his
escape. According to this tradition, Frank
and Alex Manly left the city in a buggy and
used the passcode several times as they
passed for whites. 6 According to other
accounts, Alex’s brother Frank and Daily
Record staff member J. N. Goins were in
Wilmington when Waddell began his march
to the press. Hearing gunshots, the two fled
the city before pickets ordered out by Roger
Moore were in place. With Manly and his
6 Clawson’s account is confusing, but he evidently
had worked to save Manly’s life the day before the
riot. He recalled that a group of men sought to lynch
Manly after the White Declaration of Independence
was written and that he had informed them that
Manly was gone. He boasted that his “ trip beyond
the dead- line that night caused the negro editors to
flee, which made it so the pre- arranged ‘ lynching’
and burning party did not go to Seventh and Nun
streets to fall into the ambush set about the Record
shop.” According to Clawson, this ambush consisted
of about “ two or three hundred armed negroes” who
were hiding in the neighborhood to protect the shop
and the Record staff. Clawson decided that because
of his actions, “ the ‘ lynching party’ set for that night
of November 9 did not take place, but the very next
morning hundreds of enraged and affronted white
men smashed the negro newspaper shop.” It is not
clear if such activity happened on the night of the
ninth or if Clawson jumbled his memories of the
events. His manuscript is undated and could have
been written years after the event. McDuffie,
“ Politics in Wilmington,” 687- 8; Clawson,
“ Recollections and Memories.”
staff out of the picture, the white leaders
moved toward removing other men who
could forestall or expose their reclamation of
the city. 7
Following a list provided by the
Secret Nine, Colonel Taylor dispatched units
of the WLI to find and arrest men slated for
banishment. 8 Those who could be located
on the tenth were placed in the jail
overnight, and the search continued into the
following days for other men who evaded
capture. Some such as Robert Reardon and
James Redmon were never captured. 9 Six
7 Cody, “ After the Storm,” 31; Washington Times,
November 22, 1898.
8 J. Allan Taylor, Walker Taylor’s brother, a member
of the Secret Nine and the Committee of Twenty-
Five, was in charge of the banishment campaign.
There are discrepancies in the accounts of witnesses
as to the men imprisoned in the jail overnight.
Thomas Clawson recalled that black and white
leaders were jailed together overnight. Waddell said
that seven black leaders were arrested and jailed
overnight and were the same men that were marched
under protection of the military to the train. Waddell
further stated that others, including three whites, had
been sent out but were protected from lynching
elsewhere and those men were taken under guard to
another train. Thomas Cowan, editor of the
Dispatch, wrote that several whites were interred in
jail overnight and that
Waddell and Moore worked together to prevent the
lynch mob from taking action. John D. Bellamy said
that the men participating in the banishment
campaign were not affiliated with the Committee of
Twenty- Five headed by Waddell. He further
explained that the banishments were carried out by
“ some self- assumed authority by some young men.”
Bellamy also observed that “ a good number of us”
disliked the fact that some of the men were sent out
of town. “ Minutes of the Association of the WLI,”
North Carolina Collection; Clawson, “ Recollections
and Memories;” Colliers, November 26, 1898; James
Cowan, “ The Wilmington Race Riot;” Contested
Election Case, 258.
9 George Boylan recounted the WLI search for
Redmon in 1905: “ I think the swiftest thing I
remember was the negro Redmon’s coat tails. A
squad had been sent out to find his house and when
we got there, there were two houses just alike and
there was some dispute as to which was his house
and I jumped out of the wagon just about between the

159
Record editor Alex Manly and his staff.
According to family tradition and other
accounts, Manly escaped from the city well
before the march on the press and perhaps
even before the issuance of the White
Declaration of Independence. Thomas
Clawson, editor of the Messenger who had
sold the printing press to Manly, recalled
that he asked Walker Taylor if he could
approach Manly on the ninth and tell him to
leave town as soon as possible. Manly’s
family recalled that Clawson had given
Manly the codes to pass through Red Shirt
picket lines on the outskirts of the city as
well as twenty- five dollars to assist in his
escape. According to this tradition, Frank
and Alex Manly left the city in a buggy and
used the passcode several times as they
passed for whites. 6 According to other
accounts, Alex’s brother Frank and Daily
Record staff member J. N. Goins were in
Wilmington when Waddell began his march
to the press. Hearing gunshots, the two fled
the city before pickets ordered out by Roger
Moore were in place. With Manly and his
6 Clawson’s account is confusing, but he evidently
had worked to save Manly’s life the day before the
riot. He recalled that a group of men sought to lynch
Manly after the White Declaration of Independence
was written and that he had informed them that
Manly was gone. He boasted that his “ trip beyond
the dead- line that night caused the negro editors to
flee, which made it so the pre- arranged ‘ lynching’
and burning party did not go to Seventh and Nun
streets to fall into the ambush set about the Record
shop.” According to Clawson, this ambush consisted
of about “ two or three hundred armed negroes” who
were hiding in the neighborhood to protect the shop
and the Record staff. Clawson decided that because
of his actions, “ the ‘ lynching party’ set for that night
of November 9 did not take place, but the very next
morning hundreds of enraged and affronted white
men smashed the negro newspaper shop.” It is not
clear if such activity happened on the night of the
ninth or if Clawson jumbled his memories of the
events. His manuscript is undated and could have
been written years after the event. McDuffie,
“ Politics in Wilmington,” 687- 8; Clawson,
“ Recollections and Memories.”
staff out of the picture, the white leaders
moved toward removing other men who
could forestall or expose their reclamation of
the city. 7
Following a list provided by the
Secret Nine, Colonel Taylor dispatched units
of the WLI to find and arrest men slated for
banishment. 8 Those who could be located
on the tenth were placed in the jail
overnight, and the search continued into the
following days for other men who evaded
capture. Some such as Robert Reardon and
James Redmon were never captured. 9 Six
7 Cody, “ After the Storm,” 31; Washington Times,
November 22, 1898.
8 J. Allan Taylor, Walker Taylor’s brother, a member
of the Secret Nine and the Committee of Twenty-
Five, was in charge of the banishment campaign.
There are discrepancies in the accounts of witnesses
as to the men imprisoned in the jail overnight.
Thomas Clawson recalled that black and white
leaders were jailed together overnight. Waddell said
that seven black leaders were arrested and jailed
overnight and were the same men that were marched
under protection of the military to the train. Waddell
further stated that others, including three whites, had
been sent out but were protected from lynching
elsewhere and those men were taken under guard to
another train. Thomas Cowan, editor of the
Dispatch, wrote that several whites were interred in
jail overnight and that
Waddell and Moore worked together to prevent the
lynch mob from taking action. John D. Bellamy said
that the men participating in the banishment
campaign were not affiliated with the Committee of
Twenty- Five headed by Waddell. He further
explained that the banishments were carried out by
“ some self- assumed authority by some young men.”
Bellamy also observed that “ a good number of us”
disliked the fact that some of the men were sent out
of town. “ Minutes of the Association of the WLI,”
North Carolina Collection; Clawson, “ Recollections
and Memories;” Colliers, November 26, 1898; James
Cowan, “ The Wilmington Race Riot;” Contested
Election Case, 258.
9 George Boylan recounted the WLI search for
Redmon in 1905: “ I think the swiftest thing I
remember was the negro Redmon’s coat tails. A
squad had been sent out to find his house and when
we got there, there were two houses just alike and
there was some dispute as to which was his house
and I jumped out of the wagon just about between the